News flash: Old people aren't completely useless. While arguably a good chunk of long-time running bands really need to pack it in, these past couple years have proven there's a bunch of death metal geezers not ready to be put out to pasture. Not by a long shot. Tibi Et Igni is another example of quality meets longevity.

Autopsy, Entombed A.D., Martin van Drunen's 527 variations of Asphyx and of course Vader are killing it just as hard as ever. By now, people might be a little tired of Vader's pretty stable (or stagnant, depending on your perspective) sound. Granted, Tibi Et Igni doesn't feel like a huge deviation from their regular, steady death metal sound, but there is a few shiny pieces that seemed to have been pulled to the forefront here. Namely, it's the subtly different approach made for each song, each segment and each riff; the first few tracks give off that modern, quasi-technical feel, followed by "Triumph Of Death" - a groovy ripper that sounds like something borrowed from Toxic Holocaust or Goatwhore (not to mention probably the best song to shake your ass to since Big Freedia's Duffy). Then you're hit with "Hexenkessel"; the epitome of what the album is about, and arguably the best song. A tasteful orchestral piece opening up into a tribal-rhythm-driven segment bringing to mind a simplified Meshuggah feel, dropping into straight-forward, blast-beat powered death metal, rising back up into some heroically evil licks. The fine details in the variation only become pronounced after a number of listens under a microscope. Taken in at a wider, less detailed scope, Tibi Et Igni is just a solid, homogeneous death metal album.

Welcome to the Morbid Reich (their previous album) had left me cold and a bit disappointed in spite of a few noticeable good moments, but this album really kicks ass and shows that Vader can hit hard AND do it like it should be, with style ! Indeed this album proved a very good surprise.